Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Sharing my ideas for games I am likely going to work on in the future

Since this question came up in the comments, here is the general idea for the games I have in mind:

The RPGMaker game is meant to be an open-world(ish) kind of game, conceptually similar to the Adventures of Garnet, if you ever played that one. It will feature TF as well as MC, although MC will likely be the main theme, as that's my jam. I will not be using the basic combat system, instead I am slowly adding my ideas to it. I'll also use a system similar to the FF7 materia system (the script was already done a while ago by other people, so now I just have to customize it), and I will do away with some of the things I find annoying in most RPGMaker games:




No random fights, with a possible exception for side dungeons meant to be challenges;
No simple attacks, all weapons will have different uses and effects;
no use by enemies of boring/non-interactive statuses like sleep/confuse/stun, which end up with you doing nothing for a few turns, and can often result in you getting lock stunned and lose;
summoning spells, shapeshifting spells and the possibility to change equipment during combat, so you can customize the approach to the fight on the flight, instead of being stuck in combat with sub-optimal equipment unless you save/reload;

I am not sure whether I want MC elements in the actual fights or not, because I feel like they are hard to abstract properly, but we'll see. For setting reasons, I would also prefer to not have a party for the player (summoning will hopefully replace fixed companions), but this isn't set in stone (the problem is that on one hand, I want companions because of the possible interactions, but on the other hand, when the game is sexual in nature, it would be weird to get hypnotized by a vampire, get fucked, and then get back to your 3 companions that never notice anything, or work as a maid to make some money, and get molested as your friends are nowhere to be seen even if they entered the pub with you).

As for the gameplay outside of combat, I would like it to be partly inspired by games like Zelda a link to the past. What I mean is that in Zelda, you unlock new items and powers as you progress, and those in turn unlock more areas. In my game, spells would work in a similar fashion. For example, I already have in the game the "detect magic" spell, which you use to track down a slime monster by using in and following the magical trail it left behind, and the "push spell" used to break weak walls, and maybe move platforms in jumping puzzles. Detect magic can also detect secret passages if they are hidden by illusions, so I think you can see where I am going with this. I would probably have something like "morph into a bird" so you can fly past certain obstacles (I'd probably have to limit it only to certain areas, though, otherwise this would break the game XD), maybe using fire spells/ice spells to open passages as well, and at the same time, have these spells available in combat, too.

One system I am not sure about is the mouse support. It's already in the game (I tweaked a mouse script to fit my needs) which is great to target your spells on specific tiles (it also brings the spell menu simply by right clicking, which is super useful), and can offer an option to "examine" far away objects by clicking on them if I want to, but there is the problem of those who play with a controller, so I am not sure about it, maybe I'll have to think of something else. Also, even if I decide that it is in the game, the cursor can be annoying, so maybe I'll limit it to casting spells.

As for the plot, I am going for a simple premise, and a less common approach. Your family inherited a house in the capital when your uncle died, and you decide to go and become an adventurer to make use of your magical talents (you will play as a woman, as usual XD). The idea is that there are different factions in the game with different goals. At specific intervals, I will pit their relative strengths against each other to decide the outcome of certain plots/conflicts. If you get involved with those factions (directly or indirectly) you might change the pre-determined outcome, but the world will go along no matter what you do. So you might get involved in the plot against the king or not, for example, aim for a noble title or not, help the merchants of a city against the mages of another, and once the dust settles, the world will change a little (or a lot, depending on the event). Certain quests will of course have immediate effects (if you destroy a faction, or kill/depose a noble, for example), so it's not all tied to the faction idea, which will be used mainly for big story events. You will find out something about your heritage that makes you unique, but it's up to you whether you pursue it or not. You might just work everyday as a maid, if you so desire, although you would of course miss a lot of the content that way.

Speaking of which, the game will feature TF, MC and continued play as a slave. Do you get hypnotized by the vampire? Well during the day, you are still free to do your thing (except when maybe your Mistress has some interests in you doing certain tasks, or REFUSING to do certain jobs that might hurt her, like if you are send to investigate a vampire, once you are a slave you might get the option to cover it up), and then at night you are summoned, so your choices are restricted. Do you get turned into a cowgirl (just big boobs, lactation, and mental changes, I don't think I will go for full TF on this one)? Well, if you make a lot of money as an adventurer, they'll let you do that, take all your money, and give you the equipment they want you to use, while still milking you daily, and if you suck as an adventurer, they'll retire you at the farm (this might be a bad end, not sure yet).

Well, this is the idea, at least. There is more, but it's already a pretty long post, so onto the next game.

The twine game was born mainly from a little frustration I had with certain games where the M to F transformation is often an afterthought in the plot, making the story a little weak as a result. In this game, you live in a world like ours, with the difference of magic being real (and hidden to common people). You are a magic user yourself (your clan is made up of healers), and the story starts as you are defeated by wizard invaders. They offer you safety if you accept to be inglobed in their clan, and if you accept to become the future wife of the clan leader. They want/need someone from the bloodline of your chief (you are his son), and you have no sisters, so you get transformed (this isn't really a choice, or else the plot would not move forward). Then to ensure your cooperation, someone from their clan will use MC techniques on you (if you are always submissive, you will actually end up thinking you were always a female). Anyway, after the wedding, the game will play similarly to "Cursed", most likely. You will be asked to get a job (with sexy and non-sexy options), jealous people in the clan will try to turn you into a slut (a woman who is in love with the leader, and doesn't like you suddenly popping up and taking "her spot"), there will be outside influences, you'll get to study spells, etc. Ultimately, you might play the good wife, the sub, the slut, or maybe try to lead the people who are against the current leader, and steer the clan toward doing your goals and seize power. This is the least conceptualized games among the 3 ideas I have, to be honest, but I think there is potential for loads of sexy moments (I think I have some really nice MC scenes already, some inspired by reading stories from Tabico), and there will be interesting ways to use spells, and eventually sculpt your appearance a little (I will probably have people with different tastes, so changing your breast size, for example, won't just be window dressing, but you'll get to use seduction more easily on the possible targets, if that's how you are going to exert your influence).

Last but not least, is a game idea I really like. The game would be inspired by Divi-dead, YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world and Kyuusen no Shima (a manga). Let me tell you though that YU-NO and Kyuusen no Shima are greatly flawed:

YU-NO is a fabulous game, once you get beyond the linear intro, and before you get through the dreadful, shitty final chapter, which is also linear, and forces you into eating a dead antropomorphic, intelligent animal to survive, after it saved your life, by the way, and have incest with your daughter, in the most unsexy way I can imagine (not only it's bad writing, I think it's bad spanking material even if I ever was into it, just weird, really), among other things. The plot is just bad in the final chapter, to be honest, if you ask me, the kind of ending which gives anime endings a bad name. XD

Kyuusen no Shima is trashy, that's the only word for it, but as soon as I read it I knew some parts of it would be genuinely awesome,  if adapted to a better idea with decent writing. It's a classic "dead and sex" story, an horror sadly brought down by the writing and presentation, with some truly effective ideas thrown in the middle.

Divi-dead... Well, I didn't finish it yet, to be honest, so I can only tell you it has a great setting in my opinion (which is the one I'll use for this game, by the way), a little too many ups and downs in the writing, but overall a compelling experience, from what I have seen.

So, what would this game be about? I can't tell you everything (there are a few early plot twists I believe are better experienced first hand), but here is what I can share:

You are a rich, but unfortunate girl, about 20 years old. Your parents died in a crash accident you barely survived, and you have a weak heart, which almost killed you several times. The disease that afflicts you seems unknown, but in the last year, it seems to have completely disappeared, and it's finally time for you to get more of a social life and go to university (you were home schooled before). Your uncle (who's also the person who raised you after your parents died) is the dean there, the place is in the middle of the mountains (if I were to set it in our world, I would probably go with central europe), isolated from the rest of the world. A place for the elite to study, and generally develop a network of connections. Your family (and almost all the others that send their kids ot this place) have strong bonds to it, going back generations, it's likely your mother would have been the dean, if she hadn't died prematurely, so it's no surprise you are going there, but there is something else going on. Your uncle wants you to act as a "spy", so to speak. It seems like there are strange things happening, according to him, maybe related to drugs (a student seems to have commited suicide, among other minor accidents), and he asked you to report to him anything unsual you happen to see, and he actually encouraged you to investigate the matter, if possible. You aren't sure if he doesn't want to involve law enforcement because he wants to keep any embarrassing news under wraps or if he thinks there isn't enough evidence for it to be an option right now, but you owe him a lot, so you have agreed to everything, you don't want to disappoint him.

Once you get there, you'll meet old friends from your childhood (the community here is really tight, and you have met before most of the people attending, just for having been part of the same circles since you were 5, essentially), and you'll find yourself in a very uneasy atmosphere. When death visits the university again, but most people around you don't seem to care, you'll start to have a really, really bad feeling about everything, what's really going on here?

It will definitely be horror-themed, as you can probably tell, and will work a bit more like a classic adventure, but after the first, much more linear chapter (which will end with the first plot twist), you'll be introduced to the main mechanic: time travel. I can't tell you WHY that power will be yours, but know it will be crucial to solve certain puzzles (like, getting a key in the future and using it in the past, knowing certain events will happen and be able to affect them, knowing certain places and be able to visit them at the right time, etc.). The game will probably take place in a limited number of days (let's say 7), for the sake of my sanity. XD

It will feature multiple endings, different love interests, probably a lot of bad endings where you end up dead, before time rewinds itself, and lots of scheming and plotting which will involve you, whether you like it or not.

Well, there you have it, those are the main ideas I am working on right now, if people want to comment on which one they prefer, or just tell me what they think in general, I would be very happy.

32 comments:

  1. I'm very interested in your last idea. It seriously reminds me of GrimGrimoire way back for the PS2. I don't know if you ever played it, but the wikipedia page sums up the basic plot nicely.
    One thing I'd like to see in your game though is involving dying and resetting as parts of the game. Like maybe the protagonist is aware that she died, but her time powers took her back to a point before then/ I think it would be interesting to blend basic game mechanics like that into the narrative.

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    1. I saw the wiki entry, seems like a pretty interesting game! Sadly, my PS2 died this year, and my PC isn't fast enough to emulate a PS2, so I won't be able to try it out for a while.

      The way I see it, if you die you do get automatically returned to the first day (it seems reasonable to avoid stopping the game flow, given how the game will work), but I would also like to implement a "voluntary" system (I have yet to figure out if I want a "token" system that lets you spend a token whenever you want to "save" that point in time, and then be able to return to it and recollect the token whenever you want, or if I'll go for a simpler approach, and just allow you to travel back to the start of each day).

      I don't know how I would make dying meaningful, though, as it sounds you would like it to be, beyond having certain info revealed in the same scenes you die, which would open new paths in other routes (which is more or less already part of the plan).

      One thing I will definitely have which should make time travelling cool, is something similar to YU-NO's time map, basically a simple map which tracks all the timelines you uncovered, as well as point out when there could be a fork, which would work as a way to give players hints (on day x, at hour y, there is a possible way to change the path), track progress, and generally give something interesting to consider to the players. It wouldn't give details, just track the timelines as you uncover them, but I can tell you that it's pretty neat, having seen it in action.

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  2. They all sound like wonderful game ideas but also they all look like a shit-ton of work, are you sure you could complete them in just a few months? Or are you planning on finish one of them before working on TOTDC 2?

    Anyway the first have my preference since I am not big on horror games. The second one sounds way more sex-oriented than the first one so probably if I had to choose I'd like you to develop that one since we're all here for the delicious porn. Nevertheless the first one in my opinion sounds like the most complete game of them all, I mean it looks like it could be an overall fun experience that you can enjoy not only for the porn but for the gameplay itself. But it also looks like the one that would require more work out of the three.

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    1. The time it will take depends vastly on which one I work on. These are the projects I would probably be the most passionate about, so I mentioned those, but I could always make something simpler.

      On terms of workload, the third one would probably the lightest, followed by the second one and then the first.

      For amount of sexy content, I figure it would be a fight between the RPGMaker game and the Twine game, followed by the RAGS game (although be sure I would be generous with all 3 anyway XD).

      The idea is of course that all 3 are viable as far as gameplay goes (the second one might be a little weaker, because I find it harder to put together good mechanics in Twine, the webpage interface isn't good enough, if you ask me), but RPGMaker does have an advantage because of the real-time exploration+built in combat engine, I think. Real-time makes a big difference, although I am not sure people understand that, probably because many developers don't make good use of the opportunities it gives, making the maps non-interactive.

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    2. (Long-Time Anon)
      I got to get going so I just wanted to say a few quick words.

      The RPGMaker game that you've pitched here and there continues to captivate me. It seems very grand, and just going by the concept alone, involves a very detailed world. Wonderful! I hope it has some things in it like "Buy Herbs" or "Ariadne" within it too. Beat enemies using sexy time and the latter has a prison gameplot in it, I believe.

      For the Twine one, do you *really* need the player to start off as a male? It doesn't seem like it's necessary from what I read. You can just start off as a "less-desirable" female in terms of everything outside her bloodline powers and mold her into what the wizard clan prefers. I don't know about anyone else, when the premise is gender-change, I will almost universally often play those games doing everything I can to resist change and try to get back to the original gender. These games *always* fall short since the player will miss out what made the game awesome in the first place, or the player gets railroaded (hard) towards gender change and any choices previously made are not meaningful whatsoever. Obviously, my enjoyment for these types of games haven't been very positive, not to say I don't like some Twine games; I do. I just get weirded out, probably more-so than most other players, about the whole homosexual underpin that's inheritedly always there... :/

      I hope there's stat tracking with all the good/naughty/bad things you've done in all these games. ;) I just like to see how the main protagonist/antagonist got to where s/he is now. ;P Oh yeah! And also, I hope there's a yellow outfit in there for these games! (I mean, I totally blame you for that clothing fetish.)

      Hmm, longer than I wanted so I should wrap up. Does the Dean not have other people to do what he asks of his niece? Since you put a lot of thought into world-building, I hope there's a good reason for this. Lol.

      Well it all sounds fabulous! Good luck and continue to enjoy making games, man! *Fistbump*

      (Now, at some point, I really got to look up those reference materials you've mentioned, lol.)

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    3. I don't know "buy herbs" or "Ariadne", so I can't say if I have similar ideas or not, but it wouldn't be weird to have a prison sub-plot (sexy time as an alternative to combat is fine too, but not as a full system, rather as a "here is a guard preventing you from leaving, you can seduce him if your inhibition is low enough" or something).

      Honestly, it's not necessary, but the game idea was born specifically to have a sensible M to F plot, that's why it is that way. I am not a huge fan of this type of content by itself, but I love the mental changes that usually come with it (I like myself some bimbo content :3). I can see it being a bit uncomfortable to some, so I totally get you.

      There isn't exactly proper stat tracking planned for them, but the RPGMaker game and the Twine game both have stats that reflect your mental status ("inhibition" for RPGmaker, and various like "sluttiness" "submissiveness" "femininity" for Twine) and affect what you can do in the game. Stat tracking isn't too high on my list, but I also assume it wouldn't be too hard to implement, at least.

      XD damn that yellow outfit! XD

      The Dean does have other people, among the staff, and there are good reasons to have a (trusted) student keep an eye out, it seems more effective, so to speak, and there are other reasons which are connected to the setting I can't quite reveal yet. One reason I can easily give you, though, is that you are trustworthy also because you are not involved for sure, since it's your first time there, and you are family, which is really important (as you'll find out if I ever make this game ^_^).

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    4. Rad.

      Apologizes in advance for digressing into AoG...

      Found "Adventures of Garnet" (found here for those who are curious: https://github.com/gegerlan/aog) but couldn't get the game to run. From what little I've uncovered so far of the game, it seems like a fun game.

      To those enterprising users who might be able to help another player out... Waaah, make the game "Go" for me, please!

      I've downloaded the "master" zip file and ran Game.bat file within. Appears to have some issue there. Tried replacing the "Utility" folder with the one found in utility_old.zip (found here: https://github.com/gegerlan/aog/downloads). No luck.

      When I first ran the Game.bat file, it appeared to have imported the maps, because it doesn't do that anymore afterwards. However, the cmd window starts with: The system cannot find the path specified. Then runs RGSS Script Import which apparently imports various rb files, 164 in total. From where to where, I don't know. Then it tries to import "RMXP Data Import" but the cmd window cannot find it. And then things just go downhill from there. I think that has something to do with RPGMaker, but I'm not positive. ^^" And if I can't get the game to work, then no problem. I'm curious about it since MDQP mentioned it above in the blog post.

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    5. So, you did download by clicking "download zip", unzipped the file and let game.bat run until it was finished, right?

      What version of windows are you on? Did you try any compatibility settings for the file? You can try downloading the most recent file from here:

      https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hmtttr052xz4/QrUUfrBdE7

      see if that works better for you.

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    6. The Dropbox version worked without any issue (so far)! So, I tried the game for a little while (about an hour or so) and I really dig that there's animations for running, or holding a sword/shield. It's a little thing but helps with immersion. Haven't messed with it much so far--getting the sexified endings with the ghouls/zombies. I'm surprised how it escalates so very quickly (just speak with the kids at the church for example) and also surprised that Mdqp recommended a game that contains bestiality (evidenced from peeking into the image folder). So far, it's been pretty fun! I'll continue it some more when I get more time. ;) Thanks, for the link, bro.

      Btw, what's the deal with having so many library books just left all around town? Who would do that? Lol!

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    7. Ha-ha, it's not so much that I recommended the game, I just mentioned it as being part of the inspiration for mine. I am not into bestiality, but that type content is in there (the game had multiple authors, and anyone could contribute, so I don't even know if the original author liked it or not XD), maybe I should have mentioned it, just to be on the safe side, but there is so much going on it's hard to make a comprehensive list of the fetishes available. I mainly like it for the MC and some of the power dynamics, as well as appreciating the general structure, a nice blend of open world and linear plot development. Sadly it's abandoned, so not a lot of hope to see it finished (although I am entertaining the idea of completing it myself, as it is open for anyone who wants to finish it).

      Garnet is clearly a klutz, that's why her books are everywhere. XD

      Also, make sure to get the pendant in the game (an old lady gives you that as a reward) that's required to see the MC in the game (everyone takes advantage of you, if you wear it XD).

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    8. Yeah, I'll give it another run through then. I didn't get far since the maps started to not load for me. For example, inside of the lady's home that would (eventually?) sell puppies and everything in the forest (south of the village) were completely a blank screen with the exception of the PC and NPCs. It got annoying too that at night, it affected the inside of buildings making the inside of structures really hard to see. I'm sure that neither of these things were intended, but that's how it was for me.

      I noticed the different status effect the necklace had and how it affected interactions with certain NPCs in the bar. It's the only scenes outside of my graveyard defeat scene I saw so far. It freaked me out so I took that necklace off asap, lol.

      Can't locate that last book... Man, I hope I don't have to do anything naughty to get it. (Is one of the books in the Men's John?) I tend to play "pure" paths as much as I can (and see the slow corruption of PCs if railroaded onto that path).

      Alright, I'll give the game one more try! ;D

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    9. Sounds like it isn't working properly for you, sad to hear that.

      There is at least one book that requires you to be a little "generous", if I remember correctly (I think you had to sneak into someone's house at night, because he refused to give you the book, so you tried to "steal" it back? Something like that).

      Why would you play "pure" first, what did our slutty characters ever do to you?!?! Moralist!!! For shame!!! XD

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    10. Can't get a shield. There are shields on the walls, including one that pops up: "A decorative shield. I have no use for this." There doesn't seem to be an actual grabbable shield, and without it there's no path to the forest ... or is there?

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    11. You are talking about the forest to the south of the city where you start, right? It's possible to get past it, but honestly, I can't remember how right now (I am not good at support for games that aren't mine XD).

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    12. Mdqp, there's several different Anons speaking here, lol. To Shield Anon, there are two easy methods I found so far. First is to purchase a shield from the merchant located at the south gate during the day. Easy peasy. (You can get cash easy from the above-ground building in the graveyard. Those three ghouls are easy and give lots of money right from level 1--just make sure to save as you can still die from them.) The other method is to sneak into the lady's house near the church at night and steal "Pan" type armors which includes a shield. Hope that helps! ;)

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    13. Shield Anon here. Thank you, Explainer Anon. I did find the merchant, quite by accident, but after one encounter with the nocturnal graveyard ghouls I've been leaving ghouls alone. Maybe I'll try those in the crypt during the day.

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  3. All three ideas sound pretty great to me. I love following this blog.

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  4. I'm most interested in game #1, the RPG Maker game.

    A couple of comments:

    If you wanted to incorporate mind control into the game, you could imitate pervyfantasyproductions' "The Last Demonhunter" does, and have HP represent 'self-control'. As your HP/self-control decreases, flavour text appears describing the changes in your character's mental/physical/arousal state. You could also have inflicted status effects that key off the level of self-control.

    Alternatively, you could do as Corruption of Champions does and have separate "HP" and "Lust" bars, to accommodate having opponents that attempt to physically or sexually dominate you respectively.

    Lastly, having the protagonist turn into a bird to fly around seems like a missed opportunity. If it's meant to be a sexy game, obviously she should turn into a harpy.

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    1. OOoooh! Harpy! I approve! ;D

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    2. I have "recycled" the luck stat, to work as "inhibition", which will be the main stat affecting what you can and cannot do. I decided to go for a "sex positive" approach, so actually lowering your inhibition will generally be a net positive (although some of the activities that lowers it might not be). A stupid example: you are searching for a missing person, and you know they were last seen in a strip club. If you have very high inhibition, you won't be able to go inside. I am considering using more stats like "intelligence" and "willpower" to regulate things further, but I am still not sure. Also, it's worth pointing out that you can temporarily lower your inhibition by drinking (I'll probably have random events for getting drunk, though).

      There is already enough MC planned for the game, but it isn't strictly related to a single mechanic. For example, becoming the slave of a vampire, getting turned into a cowgirl, or getting stuck with a cursed item that makes you obey every order are events already present in the game (although not to the extend I would like yet), but they are obviously scripted individually, and don't share mechanics (although if you are a vampire slave you will not be able to become a cowgirl and viceversa).

      I think that if you want MC to really be part of the fights, you have to give up "normal" combat. Having both systems co-exist is something I don't think works well, they end up being completely separated, making one of the two redundant (I don't really love creating an entire system just for flavour, and I feel that's what happens in that case).

      The "flight" transformation (whatever the form will end up being) will have to be HIGHLY regulated, to avoid incongruent behaviour in the game. TF in general will need to adhere to strict rules, in order to avoid looking like a monster, and going around the town as if nothing is going on, or turn into a flying creature and by-pass and break the game with the ability to fly. Sadly, I would never be able to code something to adequately reflect all the possibilities, which is why I wasn't really considering what the "flying form" will be, given how I'll probably never allow you to turn while other NPCs are around, and I might even make it impossible to TF at will, for the most part.

      Nothing is set in stone yet, but TF is really tough to handle whenever the game is even just slightly free-form.

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    3. It all sounds very complicated. XD

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    4. All games are kind of complex, even when they are simple to play (except for CYOA, they are just collections of short stories and "what if...?" scenarios, so they just take a lot of time to write XD).

      Whenever you add a mechanic you need to make sure of some basic requirements:

      You must believe it's fun/engaging on some level (well, duh!);

      It must have an adequate interface for the players (it doesn't matter if it's a good idea, it has to be playable without being a complete hassle);

      It mustn't be able to break the game (if it can break it, you need to change it until it doesn't, or limit it in controlled environment, so it can't break anything anyway).

      If you can't figure out these 3, usually it's better to scrap the idea.

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  5. I'd say third, second, first.
    Happily, least work, medium work, most work.
    Partly RPGMaker just comes across all 1982 and partly Final Fantasy was, to me, the obsession of the room-mate who played with music and without headphones and swore at every combat encounter.

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    1. As a kid when I got really angry at a game I would perhaps throw the pad in frustration, but I am not sure I ever swore at the game. XD

      There is a sizeable number of people that do not like RPGMaker games, but if we consider the overall success of certain games, I believe there are a lot of "lurkers" who play these games, it's kind of surprising, for me as an author, to see this discrepancy.

      We'll see what the future brings, maybe you'll get to see the idea you like the most. :)

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  6. Game #2 is my favorite on the list. You likened it to "Cursed" but I can also imagine a bit of "Trials of Taihra-Firanae" to it or at least what TOTF could become if it ever gets finished.

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    1. I don't know TOTF well enough to make the comparison, but Cursed works well enough as a comparison, although my game would be less "simulation" oriented.

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  7. Would there be pictures like in your other games?

    what about game#1 Most adult rpgmaker games have hentai

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    1. Using pics in a Twine game wouldn't be difficult (although the interface favours text, so there would definitely be less of them).

      As for the RPGMaker game, I am not sure yet. Real life pics clash with the game style too much, I feel, and I am not sure about hentai (I figure it would be a bit harder to find appropriate images) either. Currently the game fades to black, and you get descriptions and some noises for sex scenes, but it's kind of a placeholder.

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  8. Hello MDPQ, game ideas sound great.

    My view is the RPG Maker game would be the most popular, but would involve the most work with sprites, maps, scripts etc. If you were to do that I would say you would need a team and Patreon would be my suggested way forward. Otherwise you could be setting yourself up for years of work.

    The Twine game would be the easiest, especially if you turn it into chapters, if you turn it into a simulation it could be quite long. The story does not catch me as much as the others but it would be good. I know why the gender transformation is in there (popular on TFGamesite) but the game could equally be from a female perspective, moulded to be part of the new tribe, when she wants revenge.

    The third game is a wildcard, a mystery in a school(game size of Blanked (Hotel)) sounds fine, but the time travel parts add another dimension, I think it would have to be quite linear with bad ends for mistakes.

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    1. Hi there Dracis, nice to see you stop by. :)

      As for the RPGMaker game, so far I figure the one thing I would really need help for is art for the sex scenes. There are enough resources for tiles, sprites and maps that I am having no troubles when it comes to those things, and I found almost all the scripts I need already (and I can easily use the "standard" engine logic to handle the rest, as I do in RAGS, they are both powerful enough in that regard).

      I am used to working for years on games, that's just the way it is, although I would try to streamline things a bit once I am past the pre-production stage, so to speak, and I have the design ready. I wouldn't drag this as long as I did with TOTDC.

      The Twine game would indeed be the easier one (although I have plans for a magic system in it ^_^). Having a game built around growing stats and getting random and story-related events as you repeat the same actions (going to work, studying magic) would be a much simpler approach compared to other games I have made, while allowing for a lot of content if I want to.

      99% of the TF stories wouldn't really change much if the TF was removed, if you ask me. Gender identity is hard to make truly meaningful in a story, unless the entire plot revolves around identity (and even then, that's not exclusive to TF). I mean, once you are turned into a *insert whatever here* you can only deal with your feelings about such a change for so long, until you adapt to it (or you magically get your mind changed as well), die, or revert back. Once the adaptation is done (I assume that's the only relevant path, since the other two end the story) then your character will effectively behave as if he/she was always like that. You can have various degree of adaptation and a slow mental change, but most games don't, because while it would make for an interesting theme, it would also probably be not fit for most games, and the writing would necessarily have to be serious and introspective.

      The third game would rely a bit on the "time map" to guide players, so it doesn't need to be too linear, but it wouldn't have dozens of paths. The story will probably have a three-way split early on, and those will have a couple of different paths, plus some branches which reunite later on (to give replayability, offer more perspectives on one event, and not cause me huge issues to program it). Given the nature of time travel and the events in the game, there might even be one or two possible "jumps" between the main branches, that fuck a little with the timeline.

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  9. I made a proof of concept for an RPG Maker game before deciding on Twine, I can't stand Chibi sprites so looked to make my own. I messed up and as rendering at different angles, then photo editing, then import into RPG maker is like watching paint dry! I may try again with Game Character Hub Second Story sprites but I may not.

    I totally get where you are coming with the Twine game setup, I misjudged my game on the size front and anything I make now will be short and sweet, almost a mission at a time. Giving the opportunity to close the game at 'Chapter 1' so to speak.

    This probably why I called your last game a wildcard, the game could be huge.

    With art for the RPG Maker game I would happily produce a few basic images for a proof of concept. But clearly you have a small risk there.

    I check in every month or so. I still think if you make the RPG Maker game you should go on Patreon as a free game, but helped by donations. I know some very good 3D artists who would take commissions, you could also add audio and dish some of the work out.

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    1. I kind of feel you about the chibi sprites, but all in all it's more about the writing for me, I guess that's why I wasn't too discouraged. Yeah, Twine is really good for straight up CYOA, but otherwise it can grow into a big project soon.

      The third game would be medium-sized, I can easily adjust the number of days/number of "time blocks" per day in order to keep it the right size, so it's just a matter of having the main idea down before I start working on it.

      Once TOTDC is done, and I have the demo ready, I'll show it to the public, and then I'll decide what to do from there, and consider Patreon and commission an artist, maybe. This is if I don't decide to just work on one of the other projects, of course.

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